Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Just a quick post of the concept art for Crissy Hot-Rod from my game Zombie Plague. I'm currently running a Kickstarter campaign to create a comic and revamped rules for ZP. The first miniature sculpted for ZP will be based on this concept art.

I'll be posting new art as I get it and in the meantime check out the Kickstarter campaign:Zombie Plague

Saturday, November 26, 2011

My northern brother Alex Bates recently sent me a package of his newest Forge of Ice minis to check out. The Forge has some of the most creative minis going as they seem to be following some dark logic and twisted narrative of Alex's imagination. He's making up a story with these, he just hasn't let us in on it yet.

First up in this batch are four creepy Nyarlathotep possessed mummies. These poor suffering buggers are being torn apart by sprouting tentacles and don't seem to be enjoying it very much. These are sculpted to a true 25mm scale so are a bit small compared to other miniatures. But they match up perfectly with the pre-painted Arkham Horror minis so I can see them being useful with these.

Painting these was a blast. Basic damp-brushing then Citadel Washes followed by picking out more detail with simple layers. A coat of 'Ardcoat gives the tentacles some slime.

The possessed mummies with a couple of Arkham residents.

Basic attacking with tentacle.

Tentacle with mouth and nasty little teeth.

This fellow seems resolved to his fate.

And the creepy crawler mummy. Being a fan of Resident Evil
I decided he needed a massive eyeball popping out of his back.

You ever have one of those days?

Next up is one of the Pterro-men. From Alex's description:

"The Pterro-Men rule whatever parts of the Lost World that they inhabit, using their mystical/mental powers to enslave the brutal prehuman races that inhabit the land..."

This flying terror has pulp villain written all over him. With his sinister and commanding pose I imagine him ordering forth great flocks of pterosaurs and quetzalcoatlus to attack foolish interlopers. Why? Because I imagine stuff like that all the time is why. Jeeze...

I love being a miniatures hobbyist in this day and age because we have so many choices for interesting miniature subjects. Alex is keeping this idea going by creating some very personal miniatures and sharing them with us.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

In 1984 Grenadier Models Inc. was producing some of my favorite miniatures. I was just getting into Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Cthulhu and Grenadier had both covered with their Dragon Lords line and the official CoC miniatures. I used to get the Grenadier Bulletin and stare with covetous eyes over the assortment of new minis, read every word of the adventure scenarios, and groan at the unfunny cartoons. Getting to go to my local game store was next to impossible so I would often re-read these bulletins over and over, memorizing certain photos or drawings and instilling them into my personal mythology.

One of the Grenadier Bulletins that I most remember was dated November 1, 1984 and contained a small article stating "Robots Invade!" The grainy black and white photo included with the story showed two insectile robots that seemed to be peering down at a small tank or hovercraft in front of some oddly out of time buildings that looked like something out of Ireland in the dark ages. The article explained that these two walkers were the beginning of the Warbots range and that there were rumors that other game companies were interested in created giant robot games as well. Oh boy, the industry scuttlebutt back then was fierce.

The article from The Grenadier Bulletin.

The Warbots designs and setting were the brainchild of John Dennett, at the time long known as one of the industry's best sculptors of fantasy miniatures, and were such a complete departure from his normal sculpting that these came as a bit of a shock to me. The designs were widely varied from the strange amalgams of the Activoids, the previously mentioned Runner Pods, and the mecha that I'll be talking about here, the Destro Walkers.

There were two boxes of Warbots released, The Runner Pod Attack Team and The Armored Destro Squad. The Armored Destro Squad contained three Destro Walkers and a much smaller Type IV Battle Trooper (this little fella will be discussed in a future review). The three Destro Walkers were meant to be very large walking mecha that could mount varied load-outs of weapons depending on their usage.

Much like the destroids from Macross all of these walkers shared the same leg sections. Although this must have helped somewhat with miniature production it also worked within the design framework of giant robot design from Japan. The torsos and arms also implied a modular system so that a gamer could create the weapons load-out that they wanted.

The three designs included in the Armored Destro Squad are as follows:

Devastator

Code Name: Devastator. Armed with dual cannons, a long range missile rack on its back, and a battle claw this walker appears to be useful for long range bombardments. The front seems to have a huge radiator system which might be useful for long range units that don't require as much frontal armor.

Pulverisor

Code Name Pulverisor. Armed with a gatling gun and and larger single barreled cannon. This walker seems to be more heavily armored and more of a close assault unit. It is designed to go in all guns blazing with a fast firing rotary cannon for quicker units and a large bore tank gun for more heavily armored foes.

Eliminator

Code Name Eliminator. This walker again appears to be a long range bombardier with a arm mounted pod of swarm missiles, the lovely kind you see streaking through the sky before any Macross engagement, plus three cannon which seem to be battleship weight weapons. Although the claws on both the Devastator and Eliminator could be used in close combat I also see them as useful for loading munitions on these walkers.

One of the super cool things about the original Warbots sets were the filler sheets that explained paint schemes for the various Warbot units. I chose the Tigersharks scheme of overall yellow with black and red trim. I used some microscale decals to add some unit markings and even attempted a shark's mouth marking on the Pulverisor gatling. Unfortunately this decal was really too small too look correct but would have fit right in with the Tigersharks' markings.

The Warbots line was originally designed for micro-armor scales but I think that they work equally well with 15mm minis. They are very cleanly sculpted which makes them a breeze to paint and gives lots of surface area for graphics or camo schemes. And the modular design allows them to be modified or converted easily. It would be really useful if the arms and torsos could be bought separately at some point to allow for other load-out combinations.

With Combine Infantry from OGRE Miniatures.

With 15mm Titan Marines from Rebel Minis.

I scored an original box of these, thanks to The Dozing Dragon from The Lead Adventure Forum, and was amazed at how crisp the castings were from twenty eight years ago. They are very smooth and even, something that the sculptors of Battletech miniatures struggled with during the same period. It's pretty amazing to see how John Dennett could switch from excellent biological to excellent technical sculpting without missing a beat. I guess he's just that good.

All of the original Warbots miniatures have been re-released by Mirliton in Italy and can be found here. Thanks to Stefano from Mirliton for making these available again and to John Dennett for his support.

Friday, November 11, 2011

From the depths of a radioactive ocean comes a terrifying hybrid straight from your worst nightmares! SEE! Part Corpse! Part Fish! All terror!

SEE!Beautiful young women ravaged by undead creatures from the sea!

HEAR! The swinging rock and roll sounds that all the kids are crazy for!

Nameless Design Miniatures presents: The Terror of Shindig Sandbar!

Here we see the fetching zipper option. Available at checkout.

Based on my love I of black and white monster movies I have sculpted this homage to the creatures from the Horror of Party Beach. This movie dares to ask the question: How can you defeat mutated fishmen that seem to be immune to bullets and basic common sense? Answer: Sodium! And although it's not logical it's really a lot of fun.

The costumes for Horror of Party Beach seemed to be made from garbage bags and novelty store monster gloves, topped off with papier mache heads. The actors inside must have looked through the teeth of the head as they hunched around stalking nubile young women and drunks.

These crazy monster minis can be used as deep one stand ins, atomic era fiends, or simply for a guy trapped in a monster suit. The Terror mini is 38mm from the bottom of the foot to the top of the fin and comes with a 40mm base. I'll even sculpt a zipper on the back if you want one!

Price is 8.00 USD plus shipping and handling. S&H for The US and Canada is 2.00 USD and International is 4.00 USD. Please click on the Paypal Button to pay with Paypal or a credit card. Email me at hellbox45@hotmail.com with any questions.

Miniature + Shipping

Would you like a zipper?

Just for fun here's a Horror of Party Beach tribute by Indianapolis punk legends Sloppy Seconds.